Amongst steroid allegations, Japanese imports, and
sunshine in February one important thing has been forgotten in the baseball world.
Spring training games start next week. Iím so excited because the lull between the
Superbowl and spring training is pretty harrowing. Other than the NBA all-star
game what do have, hockey, I thought not.
But luckily spring training is
upon us and its time for a super early prediction show, cue the applause.
The Favorites
The New York Mets, until a few weeks ago I would
have put the Mets in the outside looking in category until they made a tiny trade
to acquire an unknown pitcher. Johan Santana was an unknown pitcher until 6 years
ago, and now heís pretty well known. Anyway, with that simple acquisition the Mets
skyrocketed themselves to the front of the favorites in the NL, if they stay
healthy, theyíve got a real shot at the pennant.
The other team in the NL
with a shot at pennant is the LA dodgers. There are two reasons they could win the
NL pennant, Torri and Jones. Joe Torri gains control of a young talented team with
the most potential of any in the NL west. He also gets the services of Andruw
Jones who, despite having the worst year of his career is one the best defensive
centerfielders and can put up 30 and 100 any year. The pitching staff is deep and
with Takashi Saito in closer role the games essentially over in the 8 if you
facing the dodgers.
Now while the pennant race in the NL may be exciting
the world series will simply be the time to watch that NL team lose to whoever
wins in the Al crown.
The Boston Red sox less than 6 months removed from
their most recent world title look to begin their quest for the crown with many
question marks, will Josh Beckett survive without Curt Schilling, will Dice-K be
better than a glorified Tim Wakefield, and the biggest question, will Jacoby
Ellsbury turn out better than Johan Santana in the long run. The Red Sox may have
those questions but they still are the team to beat in the Al east and a definite
title contender.
Finally the Detroit tigers, the team that lost nearly 120
games just 5 years ago, go into this season as favorites for the World Series. Why
you ask? Well they made the biggest trade of the off season acquiring Dontrelle
Willis and Miguel Cabrera for pennies on the dollar, their rotation will feature
the best young arms in the game like Willis Bonderman, and Verlander, and their
rotation will feature an all star at nearly every position.
When it comes
down to it, the Tigers have the talent but do they have the composure, the Mets
seem to be the best in the NL but will they crumble again when crunch time rolls
around?

Originally Aired: Wednesday, February 20, 2008. This is a part of the 93-Second Sports Shot series. 93-Second Sports Shots air weekday evenings at 6pm.

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